Donald Trump’s eldest daughter – Ivanka Trump, who is also a Senior Advisor to her father, is in Ethiopia to promote a United States (U.S.) Government initiative, “Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP)”, aimed at increasing women’s participation at workplace.
During her visit, Ivanka toured Muya Ethiopia, a female-run textile facility in the capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. Founded in 2005, the company exports clothes to the local and international markets.
Speaking on her visit, Ivanka Trump said, “Fundamentally we believe that investing in women is a smart development policy and it’s smart business. It is also in our security interests because women when they are empowered they foster peace and stability and we have seen this play out time and time again.”
The W-GDP is planned to increase women’s global labour force participation and advancement in the workplace by providing them quality education, training, and support, so they can secure and thrive in well-paying jobs in their local economies.
It works on 3 pillars. The first is to promote education, training and related workforce development programs for women. The second pillar boosts financial inclusion with credit access and investment in women-owned businesses in the developing nations. The third focuses on removing legal and cultural barriers – such as laws preventing women from certain professions or holding bank accounts. The project is financed by a U.S. $ 50 million fund within the U.S. International Development Aid (USAID) agency. The initiative aims to benefit 50 million women in developing countries by 2025.
Later, Ivanka will also attend a World Bank Policy Summit in Ethiopia. She will visit Ivory Coast, a cocoa farm and will attend a summit on economic opportunities for women in West Africa, where she will be joined by USAID Administrator – Mark Green.
For parts of the trip, Ivanka and Green will be joined by Acting President of Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) – David Bohigian, as well as Interim President of the World Bank Group – Kristalina Georgieva.
For the records, OPIC provides loans, loan guarantees, political risk insurance and funding to projects that stretch across continents and industries.
Separately, Chinese giant shoes manufacturer – Huajian, which has the biggest shoes factory in Ethiopia, has been producing products for Ivanka Trump. It is not clear if Ivanka will also visit the factory during her stay in Ethiopia.
